MUSKEGON, MI – Timothy Parker, swiftly convicted by a jury of holding up a gas station, is headed to prison for between 16 and 35 years.

Muskegon County Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks gave Parker that sentence Friday, June 28, for armed robbery and being a fourth-time habitual offender. The term is to be served after Parker serves a sentence for violating parole.

On May 30, Parker had one of Muskegon’s swiftest life-felony trials in recent memory. It took just a few hours from the start of jury selection to Parker’s conviction, and jurors deliberated only about a half hour.

Parker, 47, of Fruitport Township was found guilty of the 2 a.m. Oct. 20, 2012 holdup attempt of the Speedway gas station at 6582 Grand Haven Road in Norton Shores.

Evidence included a store video and testimony by the gas station clerk, who told jurors Parker, hand under his shirt, implied he had a weapon after he tried to use his girlfriend’s credit card for a purchase. The card was declined, and Parker then demanded money from the cash drawer, the clerk testified.

She refused to hand over the money and called 911. The suspect fled in a car, and police later arrested Parker.

Parker’s version was that he was reaching for a credit card, not implying he had a weapon.

At his video arraignment Oct. 26, attended by an MLive reporter, Parker said, “I just did something stupid." Chief Muskegon County 60th District Judge Maria Ladas Hoopes then cut him off and advised him that anything he said could be used against him.

Parker was paroled in March 2012 after serving more than two years for resisting and obstructing police in Muskegon County, with parole continuing until March 2014. That July 2009 offense was committed just a few months after his release from a prison term for two armed robbery convictions, for holdups committed in January 2002 in Muskegon County.